Distributing and measuring apparatus.



' G. H. RHODES.

DvISTRIDUTING AND MEASURING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED OT. 26| -1914.

y1 179,336. Patented Apr. 11, 1916.

uEiTED sTATEs PATENT oEErcE.

GEORG-E H. RHODES, OIE' LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR TO `BISHOP &COMPANY, A COPARTNERSHIP CONSISTINGr OF lROLLAND P. BISHOP, WILLIAM T'.BISHOP, ANI) JOSEPH O. KOEEFLI, ALL 0FLOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA. u

DISTRIBUTING AND MEAsuRING APPARATUS.

specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 26, 1914. Serial No. 868,616. i v

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. RHODES, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles, in the county of VLos Angeles, State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Distributingand Measuring Apparatus, of which the following vis a specification.

This invention relates to a distributing and measuring apparatus, andparticularly pertains to a mechanism for automatically coating nutkernels with chocolate in candy manufacture.l

. It is the object of this invention to provide an apparatus by means ofwhich nut kernels, such as peanuts and the like, may be accuratelymeasured and delivered in= piles to a chocolate coating mechanism.

A further object is to provide a feed roller and mounting thereforsothat nut kernels and other granular material may be distributed inuniform piles throughout the area of a constantly moving chocolateconveying belt, whereby the kernels are coated with chocolate, thusproducing a mechanism by means of which the chocolate coating operationmay be effected mechanically and with a rapid output.

The invention is illustrated in the accom panying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 is a view in diagram showing an apparatus constructed inaccordance with this invention partly in section and partly inelevation. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the measuring anddistributing roll as v disposed at the discharge end of a feed hopper,portions being broken away. Fig. 3 is an end view as seen in thedirection indicated by the arrow 3 in Fig. 2, with parts broken away.Fig. 4 is a plan view of an end portion of the measuring and distribut-V ing roll casing. Fig. 5 is a detail in plan of a portion of themeasuring and distributing roll.

More specifically, 6 indicates a chocolate reservoir adapted to containmolten chocolate and in which a drum 7 is revolubly mounted. A thickreticulated belt 8 passes around the drum 7 and over a pair of spacedrollers 9 and 10 by means of which the under surface of the upperhorizontally disposed portion of the belt contacts with the peripheralsurface of the drum 7. Mounted on the opposite sides of the reservoir 6is a pair of bearings 11 and 12 which are formed with internallythreaded recesses on their inner faces to receive correspondinglythreaded ends of a tube 13 which extends across the reservoir 6centrally thereof and in transverse relation to the belt 8. The tube 13is formed with a longitudinally extending slot 14 on its upper side andhas a series of spaced circular apertures 15 on its lower side whichopen above the belt 8.

Extending through the tube 13 is a feed cylinder 16 which is formed'witha ,series of annular channels 17 arranged opposite-the perforations orapertures 15 andlformed in the bottom walls of the channel 17 aredepressions or pockets 18; a pocket 18 being provided in each channel 17and the series of pockets being arranged in longitudinal ahnement so asto register simultaneously with the slot 14 and the apertures 15 in thetube 13. y

The feed cylinder 16 is provided with trunnions 19 and 20 which extendthrough the bearings 11 and` 12 on the longitudinal aXis of the feedcylinder 16. `The trunnion 20 is fitted with a sprocket wheel 21 aroundwhich a sprocket chain is adapted to pass by which the cylinder 16 maybe rotated. Arranged above the tube 13 is a hopper 22 for the receptionof nut kernels or other loose granular materials.v

' In the operation of the invention, the belt 8 and the cylinder 16 arerotated simultaneously by any suitable driving means. The drum 7 inpassing through the molten chocolate within the receptacle 6 becomescoated therewith, thus conveying a quantity of chocolate to a pointbeneath the tube 13. The chocolate on drum 7 oozes through the belt 8where it is in contact therewith below the tube 13. The belt 8 does notcarry the chocolate fromv reservoir 6, the meshes in the belt being toolarge andthe chocolate falling `from the belt. Kernels positionthemselves in channel 17 ready to fall into the pockets 18 as they passbeneath theslot 14 communicating with the discharge end of the hopper22, thereby permitting a measured quantity of the nut kernels or othermaterials contained in the hopper to be debeing illed each time theypass beneath the slot 111. The nuts are preserved in their Wholecondition and are not broken in the measuring device. In measuringdevices employing a hopper and a rotary feed cylinder provided withpockets, some of the nuts are cracked due to the shearing action of theWall of the pockets and the sides of the hoper. By using a cylinder Withchannels 17, pockets 18 and a tube 13, nuts Which become disposedbetween the Walls of the pockets 18 and the tube 13 have room to turn inchannel 17 and thus arrange themselves so that they Will not be shearedor cracked. When the pockets 18 are moved into register With theapertures 16 in the tube 13 the contents thereo:I are discharged throughthe apertures 15 and deposited in piles on the upper face of the belt SWhere they become embedded in the body of chocolate forced upvvardlythrough the mesh of the belt by drum 7, thereby forming a chocolatebinding bottom for the pile of nuts deposited. rIhe chocolate hardensand adheres to the nuts forming a conglomerate of chocolate and nuts.rlhe belt 8 in advancing carries the nuts and with them the chocolatebottom over the roller 10 Where they are engaged by a conveyer belt 23rotated in any suitable manner by means or' which the chocolate coatedmaterials are conveyed to any suitable point, such as a device Whichdirects chocolate in a stream over the piles completing the coating.

hat I claim is:

1. A measuring and distributing device, comprising a horizontallyextending tube having a longitudinal slot on its upper side and anopening on its lower side, a hopper having its discharge end opening tothe slot in the tube, and a revoluble cylinder mounted in the tubeformed With annular channels and having depressions in the bottom of thechannels adapted to receive granular materials from the hopper and todischarge same through the opening in the tube on the rotation of thecylinder.

2. A measuring and distributing device, comprising a horizontallyextending tube having a longitudinal slot on its upper side and a seriesof apertures on its lower side, a hopper having its discharge endopening to the slot in the tube, and a revoluble cylinder mounted in thetube formed With annular channels registering with the apertures in thetube having alined depressions in the bottom of the channels adapted toreceive granular materia-ls from the hopper and to discharge samethrough the apertures in the tube on the rotation of the cylinder.

In Witness that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto subscribed my namethis 12th day of October, 1914.

GEORGE H. RHODES. Witnesses:

MARGUERITE BATES, MARIE BATTEY.

Copies of this patent may be obtained f or five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington. 1). C.

